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TREATMENT AND USES OP 


PEAT 


AND 

I 

PEATY MATERIAL 


DESIGNED EXPRESSLY FOR THE INSTRUCTION 

OP 

FARMERS AND OWNERS OF PEAT LANDS. 


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A * 3 - 


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BY 




J. BURROWS HYDE, C.E. 


___ 100 / » 


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of VVashVftt 0? 

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NEW YORK: 

bailliI:re brothers, 520 Broadway. 

1866. 









» 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, 

By BAILLIERE BROTHERS, 

In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States 
for the Southern District of New York. 


The New York Printing Company, 
8i, 83, and 85 Centre Street, 

New York. 

6 - Imd 


3 


S 


I 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

Introduction .v 

« c 

General Description.7 

Testing Quantity and Quality of a Peat Deposit 20 

Harvesting Peat.22 

Manipulating and Condensing . . . . 24 

Fuel. 40 

Charcoal .49 

Gas.54 

Fertilizer .55 

Conclusion 


70 


























♦ 





s 




' 




































. 

















■ 




























INTRODUCTION. 


To furnish farmers and others, in the fewest possi¬ 
ble words, with ample information for the treat¬ 
ment and adaptabilities of this long neglected or 
overlooked source of comfort and usefulness; this 
great auxiliary medium for fuel and fertilization ; 
prompted me to write for publication in the 
Mining and Petroleum Standard and Gas-Light 
Journal , a few chapters which are here reproduced 
with some additions and revision. 

With a great mass of facts pertaining to this 
subject, my greatest difficulty has been to avoid 
unnecessary explanations, or multiplicity of trials 
or experiments; and if I have given, or may give, 
any information to those interested, or interested 



VI 


INTRODUCTION. 


any new party in this important source of enter¬ 
prise, I shall have accomplished my design. 

I have thought best to confine myself to the 
adaptabilities of peaty material to heating, illumi¬ 
nating, and fertilizing uses; but it has other useful 
✓ 

sources for employment, which I have not thought 
expedient to treat upon in this paper. 

J. Burrows Hyde. 


8 Pine Street, New York. 


TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT. 


♦- 4 - 


GENERA.L DESCRIPTION. 

Deposits of peaty matter abound in the 
United States. The marsh lands extending 
along our sea - coast and bays, the wet 
meadows skirting the rivers and streams, all 
swamps and bog meadows, and such flat 
grass and moss-covered lands as are subject to 
frequent overflow and constant saturation by 
water, whether fresh or salt, or both, usually 
afford peaty matter varying from a few inches 
to many feet in depth. It is also found in * 
wooded districts, even upon hilly land where 
a depression of the surface permits an ac¬ 
cumulation of leaves and other vegetable 
material, which is there exposed to saturation 
by water. Indeed it appears to be distributed 
in about equal proportions to the area of most 
of the Northern and Eastern States'; even on 
the barren district of Cape Cod, in the State 



8 


TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 

of Massachusetts, there is a deposit of good, 
fuel peat which has been explored to upwards 
of forty feet in depth. 

In an economical sense peaty material 
should be divided into two classes — the 
fibrous, and the non-fibrous or pulpy. Both 
are often found together in localities where 
the surface presents a growth of grasses, or 
mosses, or both ; but in that of swamps and 
wooded districts there is usually an entire 
absence of fibre. The quality of the material 
for useful purposes varies greatly, whether it 
be fibrous or not; from causes which will be 
set forth. 

All peats are accumulations of decayed or 
partially carbonized vegetable matters, and 
have their origin from no other source. The 
value of the material for heating, or for gene¬ 
rating gas, or as fertilizing agents, depends 
much upon the nature of the vegetable growth 
of supply, and the exposure of the bed to 
adulteration by washing from earthy or mine¬ 
ral matters from adjacent districts. 

Fibrous peats result from the decay of 
plants and roots of grasses and mosses which 
have grown on the spot. Sending downwards 
their finely-threaded roots in felt-like compact 
masses, each year’s growth undergoing partial 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


9 


decomposition or carbonization, the super¬ 
ficial vitality continues, the plant growing on 
from year to year, while still attached to the 
slowly accumulating deposit of decayed mate¬ 
rial below ; which finally usually loses every 
trace of vegetable delineation, in which con¬ 
dition it is generally known to farmers by the 
senseless name of “ muck.” The fibrous por¬ 
tion I consider “ peat ” proper. 

The peaty matter found in swamps and 
wooded districts being, except in rare cases, 
the re&ult of decomposed leaves and branches, 
generally contains more carbon and distillable 
matter, and less ash than that from meadows 
and lowlands. This description is also known 
by the name of “ muck,” and like that before 
described, is of a blackish color and butter¬ 
like consistency when cut from the bed. 
Usually when first cut it has an acid odor and 
taste. When dried in masses it js of a dark 
brown or umber-color, varying however to 
quite black, and frequently when first dried is 
covered with a whitish efflorescence or mould¬ 
like presentation. Dried, it varies in specific 
gravity and compactness, and when cut with 
a sharp knife shows a vitreous lustre. Neither 
color, weight, nor solidity can be taken as an 
indication of its richness; this depends upon 

1 * 


10 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 

the character of the original vegetable matter, 
and from the proportion of deleterious and 
foreign transported material mixed with the 
peat. 

The fine portions of peaty matter, whether 
it result from grasses, mosses, leaves, or wood, 
bear a close resemblance to the eye ; and 
whether it be taken from a meadow on the 
sea-shore, or a slough in the forest, is all popu¬ 
larly called “ muck.” It should be known by 
a more appropriate name, particularly as this 
name “muck” has many other significations. 

When the deposit is adjacent to, or border¬ 
ed by higher ground, or in the vicinity of ex¬ 
posed soil or sand, wind and rains carry this 
foreign material on to the bed. And also 
where the bed is subject to the overflow of 
adjacent streams, earthy matter is by that 
means transported to and deposited upon the 
mass; either of which causes of adulteration 
continuing year after year, seriously depre* 
ciate the value of the peat. And if the 
saturating water holds lime or other mineral 
matter in solution, those solids will, to a con¬ 
siderable extent, be precipitated, and also 
have an impoverishing effect. 

It is a common error to suppose that when 
earthy matter is found in the surface material 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


11 


—where it is readily detected—the deeper 
and more compact peat in the same bed will 
be of better quality. This, although some¬ 
times true, will be generally found incorrect, 
for the reason that where the mixture of this* 
deleterious and incombustible matter is found 
in the surface deposit, it is quite probable to 
have existed from the beginning of the bed, 
and the mixing has been general, accumulat¬ 
ing from year to year in each successive in¬ 
crease of depth, the lower portion holding that 
which has gone down with it from the surface. 

When the whole or a part of the vegetable 
growth was composed of turpentine or rosin- 
producing trees, such as pines, firs, etc.; the re¬ 
sulting peaty matter will be correspondingly 
rich for heating uses, and particularly so for 
gas . 

The bottoms of peat-beds are usually hard 
and firm, sometimes sand or gravel, or both ; 
but often a fine, clay-like substance, which 
varies in color in different localities—light 
grayish white to dark gray, and light brownish 
white to dark brown. I once took from a de¬ 
posit (of the former color, that was several 
inches in thickness) a sample, which I found . 
to be a superior polishing powder, and which, 
under the microscope, proved to be composed 


12 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 


of the remains of insect life, it being made np 
of the infusorial shields of animalcula—little 
shells.—It was a most superior quality of no 
Yaculi, or “ rotten stoneand generally tho 
fine, clay-like material found under such cii 
cumstances will prove to be of a simila 
character. Those shells are generally sili 
cions, and not carbonates of lime, or marly > 
which the deposit is often supposed to be. 

“ Some of the peat bogs in the north of 
England occupy the place of former vast 
forests of oak, pine, fir, and other large trees, 
which have been prostrated by high winds. 
The fallen timber seems to have dammed up 
the streams, where from collected drift the 
water has accumulated, forming sloughs or 
ponds. The forests seem to have been suc¬ 
ceeded by smaller growths of woody shrubs 
that have added to the accumulation of vege¬ 
table matter, shallowing the water progres- • 
sively until at last it has risen to the surface 
and produced grasses and mosses, finally form¬ 
ing a meadow bog of compact peat. 

“ In the explorations, the undecomposed 
wood is found lying in one general direction 
at a depth of twenty feet, coinciding with the 
stumps broken off above the roots. The pines, 
firs, and other turpentine trees having been 


and peaty material. 


13 


more or less preserved in many cases, where 
the oak, birch, etc., have quite or nearly dis¬ 
appeared ; and in some cases the pines have 
changed to a substance resembling asphaltum, 
which the people burn as a substitute for can¬ 
dles.”— (Si?' Chas. lyell .) 

“ In England the Hatfield bog is well known 
to occupy the place where a heavy forest ex¬ 
isted in the time of Julius Csesar, 1800 years 
ago, and through which the Homans con¬ 
structed one of their military roads, all of 
which, with the road, is now covered with 
many feet of ‘ peat,’ from which fir trees 
have been taken ninety feet in length, and 
used for masts and spars for the British navy.” 
—(Sir Chas. Lyell.) 

“ In Scotland 4 peat’ has been explored to 
the depth of one hundred feet from the sur¬ 
face.” 

At a considerable depth from the surface in 
some localities the peat is found changed to 
a substance resembling brown asphalt, yield¬ 
ing a rich and brilliant gas, quite equal in 
quality to that of the best cannel coal. This 
is said to be the case with peaty matter found 
near Chicago, Ill. 

“In warm climates woody mattersi^xposed 
to saturation by water, instead of forming 


14 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 

i peat,’ as in the north, are destroyed by insects 
and by slow combustion or putrefaction.” 
(Sir Chas. Lyell.) 

Query .—Is it not absorbed or appropriated 
by the rapid and constantly growing, and 
dense vegetation of these districts? 

It is upwards of twenty years since in 
several parts of Europe my investigations 
satisfied me that the day would come when 
this commodity would receive its proper em¬ 
ployment in this country. Some of the finest 
iron ever made in Germany was smelted by 
peat fuel, years ago; and yet it is but a few 
years since, even in England, it ranked for 
any other value 'than to give scanty warmth 
around the hearth of the most humble cot¬ 
tager. The discovery of its greater scope of 
usefulness gave rise to exalted speculations, 
even in Parliament, where distinguished po¬ 
litical economists speculated Ireland into a 
mine of wealth ; which led to statutes charter¬ 
ing companies with fabulous capitals, which, 
however, were wasted in making stearine can¬ 
dles, acetic acid, lubricating oils, and such other 
uses requiring nice and expensive chemical 
apparatus and careful manipulation, where 
those ffi’oducts were obtained at ruinous cost, 
while the true economy of the material was 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


15 


overlooked altogether. Costly and complex 
machinery was also made for treating and 
pressing peat, which likewise failed, because 
too slow and tedious in action. Those failures, 
from their great notoriety, doubtless retarded 
for years legitimate enterprises for the uses 
and treatment of peat in Great Britain. Now 
they have taken up the matter with increased 
interest and more practical action, confining 
their applications to heating uses. 

In one of the establishments referred to, for 
“ 8,200 lbs. of peat and 1,025 lbs. sulphuric 
acid, the product was 818 lbs. sulphate of am¬ 
monia, 517 lbs. acetate of lime, 19 gallons 
naphtha, 11 lbs. paraffine, 37 gallons volatile 
oil, and 36 gallons fixed oil,” carbon and gas 
not given. 

In another, for 2,000 lbs., the yield was 
“ 36 lbs. light oil, 36 lbs. heavy oil, 30 lbs. 
resinous asphalt, 8 lbs. paraffine, 21 lbs. sul¬ 
phate of ammonia, 5 lbs. acetic acid, 8 lbs. 
naphtha, 60 lbs. creasote, 320 lbs. gas, and 700 
lbs. carbon.” 

Another gives, for 2000 lbs., “ 370 lbs. am- 
moniaeal liquor, 100 lbs. tar with paraffine, 
720 lbs. charcoal, and 12,500 cubic feet of 
seven-candle gas. But had the pea-t been 
thoroughly dried, and the tar and paraffine 


16 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 

consumed, the light would have been equal to 
the best coal gas.” 

Thoroughly air-dried peat, even in small 
particles, contains a large per cent, of 
water. I have pulverized peat of a fine 
quality to an impalpable powder, exposed 
it spread in a thin layer to the sun, weighed 
carefully a quantity, and placed it in an oven 
at 200° heat; then weighed it again, and found 
it had lost one-fourth of its weight; placed it 
again in the air on a dry day, and in a few 
hours it recovered its original weight by ab¬ 
sorption of water from the air; and this it 
will always do. When peat has been thorough¬ 
ly air-dried and afterwards exposed to the 
rain, the exterior pores being sealed up, 
it will not again become wet below the 
surface except to small fragments. But 
when exposed to frost, whether it has been 
condensed or not, care must be taken that 
it be thoroughly dried, otherwise it will 
disintegrate into powder from the freezing of 
the retaining moisture. 

Of the Lees—England—peat, it is said the 
green “ peat holds 40 to 70 per cent, of water, 
and one man working under favorable circum¬ 
stances will cut from nine to twelve tons per 
day. 100 pounds of this ‘ peat’ yield—Brown 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


17 


‘ peat,’ 71 lbs.; water, 26 lbs.; ash, 3 lbs. 
Black ‘ peat, 1 7S lbs.; water, 26 lbs.; ash, 4 
lbs.” 

Peat usually contains a percentage of am¬ 
monia, and often a trace of sulphuret of iron, 
but so slight a degree of sulphur as to render 
it one of the least injurious and most cleanly 
of all fuels for generating steam. The essen¬ 
tial requirements as a fuel (quality being sa¬ 
tisfactory) are cost to consumers as compared 
with other fuels, and cost to producers—the 
last being first and the first last. 

There is a material of vegetable origin well 
known to chemists, called Ulmin , and which 
has some peculiar properties. I find this fine 
peaty matter of good quality responds to the 
chemical tests of ulmin. There can be no 
doubt this would be a more appropriate name 
for the article, although I have not found it so 
named either in Europe or this country; and 
yet the acid of peaty deposits has frequently 
been called ulmic acid. Hence it seems better 
to say ulmin beds, ulmin deposits, ulmin fuel, 
etc., when referring to the fine or pulpy mate¬ 
rial, as distinct from the fibrous. I shall 
therefore use this word, and refer only to the 
useful or fine portion of such material in its 
economical adaptabilities. 


18 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 


The material which I prefer to name uimin, 
instead of peat or muck, is the result of vege¬ 
table materials that have been decomposed, 
forming a substance which, when wet, seems 
to be an aggregation of finely pulverized mat¬ 
ter. In some situations the decomposition 
progresses until it has a resinous or gum-like 
appearance when dry, and then closely resem¬ 
bles the uimin of the elm-tree, with which it 
seems identical. 

Uimin varies in quality not only from the 
different proportions of its proper materials, 
but from the admixture of foreign elements, 
which also vary in proportion and kind. Car¬ 
bon, potash, and ammonia; lime, soda, mag¬ 
nesia, and alumina—as carbonates, sulphates, 
or phosphates ;—also iron, lead, and even 
sulphur and copper, and always hydrogen and 
oxygen, make up the varied properties. 

In a careful analysis, 100 parts of peat from 
different localities, gave :— 



Carbon. 

Volatile Matter. 

Ash. 

Scotland, 

.... 25 . 

. . . 73 . . 

. 2 

England, 

.... 37 . 

. . . 48 . . 

. 15 

Ireland, 

.... 61 . 

. . . 37 . . 

. 2 

Do. 

.... 20 . 

. . . 71 . . 

. 9 

Do. 

. . . . 65 . 

. . . 22 . . 

. 13 

France, 

.... 58 . 

• 

• 

00 

CM 

• 

• 

• 

. 12 









AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


19 



Carbon. 

Volatile Matter. 

Ash, 

France, 

. . . 22 . . 

. . 70 . 

• 

. 8 

Do. 

. . . 33 . . 

. . 58 . 

• 

. 9 

Wurtemberg 

. . . 25 . . 

. . 70 . 

• 

. 5 

Bohemia 

. . . 67 . . 

. . 30 . 

• • 

. 3 

Maine, U. S., 

. . . 21 . . 

. . 72 . 

• 

. 7 

Grass peat— 

-brownish yellow- 

-gave ash 17 

per 

cent. 

Do. 

do. and fine 

,, 3 

11 


Pitch peat from Clermont 

„ 26 

11 


11 

upper bed 

„ § 

» 


Old peat from Abbeville, 


11 


Wood „ 

Burgundy, 

>i ^ 

11 


Moor „ 

Eichfiel 1, 

ti 27 

11 



Yellowish brown peat, Dartmoor, 13 


100 parts charcoal from wood, gave ash as 
follows: 


Young ash, 
Old „ 
Beech, 

Birch, 

Canada pine, 
Norway ,, 
Willow, 
Hickory, . 


15 

per cent. 

11 

11 

37 

n 

30 

11 

23 

11 

25 

11 

6 

11 

9 

11 


100 parts mineral coal gave ash as follows: 


Newcastle coal,.3'50 

Welsh coal,.325 

Lancashire coal,.3'75 

Scotch coal, . . . . ; . 4 - 25 

Pennsylvania coal, .... 4*75 












20 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 

TESTING QUALITY AND QUANTITY OF A PEAT 

DEPOSIT. 

To determine the quantity and value of peaty 
deposits, the following course should be observ¬ 
ed—the extent of the bed and convenience of 
access being considered, and the time dryish 
weather in summer :—Sound the bed in vari¬ 
ous parts with a rigid rod of wood, measuring 
and recording each trial. If the depth exceed 
two or three feet below the first roots of the 
plants, all below such depths will usually be 
non-fibrous, or nearly so. Take samples at 
intervals of two or three feet from top to bot¬ 
tom of the bed, and determine your warrant 
for further action by testing the quality. 

A simple, and, for most useful purposes, effi¬ 
cient way for ascertaining the value of peaty 
matter is as follows :—Break the peat into 
small pieces, say the size of grains of wheat, 
and expose it to the sun’s rays upon a seasoned 
board, or upon earthenware, and when dry 
enough to do so, pound it fine in a common 
mortar, or otherwise pulverize it, and expose 
as before to the sun. When it is as dry as 
this means will effect, weigh an ounce or more 
with care ; place this in a shallow vessel of 
iron or other convenient material, which put 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


21 


into a hot fire. At first a considerable volume 
of steam will arise. This is due to the hvgro- 
metric nature of the peat, which holds from 
twenty-five to thirty-five per cent, of its weight 
in moisture that cannot be expelled by solar 
heat. Apply a lighted taper to this vapor, for 
as soon as the water is expelled carburetted. 
hydrogen gas will succeed it; this will burn 
several minutes, leaving charcoal. Now pa¬ 
tiently and gently blow this mass, stirring it 
constantly with a piece of clean iron (an old 
pipe-stem will be better) until every spark of 
the coal shall have disappeared, taking care 
that the fire is kept very hot. Noiv remove 
the vessel, and when cold carefully collect and 
weigh the “ ashes,” and the proportion of that 
weight to the first will give its value for heat¬ 
ing purposes. I have tested peat which gave 
only five per cent, of ash, which was unusually 
fine. Not long since, a friend who was nego¬ 
tiating for the purchase of peat property sent 
me a sample of what had been pronounced 
most superior quality. It was compact, heavy, 
dark colored, inclining rather to dull black 
than brownish. I placed a piece upon a com¬ 
mon coal fire. It gave off little gas,, and when 
thoroughly burned retained its original shape, 
and nearly the same size, and in such tenacity 


22 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 


as not to break on being removed from the 
fire ; this weighed seventy-five per cent, of its 
original weight, and of course the peat was 
worthless. 

If your bed is not so far from the market or 
place of consumption as to have the cost of 
transportation exceed the benefit as a fuel, 
and the quantity warrants action ; and if you 
have a depth of not less than three feet of 
ulmin, or a mixture of fibre that will yield 
three-fourths pulp to the whole weight, and 
you have not more than fifteen per cent, of 
ashes, it will usually pay to* harvest it; and 
if means are used to manipulate and form 
into condensed bricks, it surelv will if well 
managed. 


HARVESTING- PEAT. 

In working a peat deposit, the first point is 
to decide upon the method of drainage. If 
by trenching you can draw the water to a 
lower level within reasonable distance, that 
should surely be done. Stake off transverse 
lines for drains three or four feet wide, and 
say twenty feet apart each way, one set lead¬ 
ing to a main drain at the side of the bed. 
Select a surface for depositing the peat by the 
side of the bed, if convenient; and if possible, 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


23 


where the ground is sloping to let off rain¬ 
water. From this ground clear off all shrubs, 
stones, and long grass. If you think proper 
to erect shelter roofs over this dumping- 
ground, this should be done before proceed¬ 
ing to work. How, clear off the surface ma¬ 
terial along between the drain-stakes down to 
the compact peat. 

Provide wheelbarrows with flat bottoms 
thirty inches wide and four feet long; also 
boards one inch thick and one foot wdde, for 
barrow tracks; and spades with blades eight¬ 
een inches long and six inches wide, with a 
flanch turned up at right angles on the right- 
hand side, three inches high, and the same 
length as the blade. This determines the size 
of the blocks. Cut from the bed from left to 
right, and as nearly vertical as convenient, 
each cut being deposited on the barrow, by 
which it is removed to the dumping-ground, 
where it should be piled up or spread in such a 
way as to allow the air to circulate among the 
mass for drying; the fibrous being kept dis¬ 
tinct from the non-fibrous as much as possible, 
and always when practicable. 

Peat dries very slowly; the surface dries 
and shrinks, closing, or nearly closing the 
pores of the dried portion ; and while envelop- 


24 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 


ing internal moisture, externally it appears 
quite dry. Hence, when partially dry, it is 
best to break the mass through the centre 
longitudinally, and expose again. Drying 
peat-for fuel by artificial heat I consider, in 
an economical sense, an impossibility, unless 
competing fuels are sold at higher prices than 
they have hitherto cost in this country. 

In the year 1842 there were 59,000 men 
employed in France “ harvesting peat,” at an 
average cost of $1.75 per ton for gathering, 
drying, and stacking. 

MANIPULATING AND CONDENSING. 

Peaty matter, being always of a spongy 
consistency when taken from its bed, will, ex¬ 
cept in rare cases, dry in the same condition ; 
hence its lightness and rapid combustion when 
fired, particularly if accelerated bj a draught 
of air. For that reason it is always improved as 
a fuel if condensed. But to effect this advan¬ 
tageously, the material should be manipulat¬ 
ed to break up its cellular structure and ren¬ 
der the mass homogeneous and of uniform con- 
sistency. This must be done by mechanical 
means, to effect which, hitherto or until re¬ 
cently, great difficulties have been encounter¬ 
ed by those who have invented or arranged 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


25 


apparatus for effecting it, particularly as the 
peat varies materially in its structure, which 
I will try and classify : 

1st. That composed entirely of coarse fibre, 
always very porous. 

2d. That composed entirely of fine fibre, 
more compact, like hair-felt. 

3d. That composed of decomposed vegeta¬ 
ble matter, pulpy, cutting like butter, having 
no trace of vegetable organism, and when 
dried and cut with a knife presents a dull sur¬ 
face. 

4th. That which dried resembles the latter, 
but when cut shows a bright vitreous surface, 
and which with the last or third class I prefer 
to name ulvnin , to distinguish it from the fi¬ 
brous and mixed peat. 

5th. That where the first or second class, or 
both, are mixed or incorporated with the third 
class, which is the usual condition of peaty 
matter in this and the New England States. 

6th. Where undecomposed roots or other 
woody matter from trees is found intermixed 
with it, and also bones of animals, and even 
stones. 

The tenacity of the fibres also vary in dif¬ 
ferent beds, some being strong and wire-like, 

others rotten and tender. 

2 


26 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 

i i 

Compressed peat for heating purposes has 
infinite advantages over that not pressed; 
embracing tenacity for handling and trans¬ 
portation, reduced bulk, and great economy 
in combustion. Besides, some qualities of 
peat may be useful when compressed, which 
in a crude state is not worth transportation. 
Various machines and processes have been 
patented in Europe, and some few in this 
country, for treating peat for fuel, consisting 
first in those for separating the fine portion 
from the fibrous ; and secondly, for compress¬ 
ing the fine material into convenient solid 
shapes. From a personal examination of the 
various systems, I believe the most successful 
method yet devised is of American origin. 
The essentials of this class of manipulations 
are, the greatest possible condensation of the 
peat at the least possible cost; and I entertain 
no doubt that this long neglected and abun¬ 
dant material, so convenient and accessible to 
almost every district in the manufacturing 
States, is in future to occupy a prominent 
rank as a fuel, whatever may be the cost of 
other heating mediums. Besides, peat has 
many other valuable uses, which I shall here¬ 
inafter set forth. 

Various mechanical systems have been 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


27 


used to work peat. First, that to facilitate its 
removal from the bed instead of by manual 
labor, and which must have very limited 
adaptabilities, and I question if ever with pro¬ 
longed advantages, except where the material 
is taken from under water, and then at a cost 
to make it of little value. The best machine 
I have heard of will take out forty tons of wet 
peat per day, and requires five men; whereas a 
good digger will lift ten tons a day to the sur¬ 
face on which he stands, and even two feet 
above it. 

Of the systems for manipulating or knead¬ 
ing, the first was to tread it on the grass with 
the feet of men or animals, and even to knead 
it with the hands. 

Of the machines, the Chilian Mill system 
seems the most crude. An upright shaft of 
wood is firmly fixed in position ; a second and 
rotating shaft of wood is placed horizontally, 
about two feet from the ground, one end of 
which is secured by a toggle joint to a loose 
strap around the upright shaft; a disk-wheel 
of wood, iron, or stone, its lower edge rest¬ 
ing on the ground, and inside a circular curb 
is placed on the horizontal shaft, to the 
outer end of which an ox or horse is attached, 
and in travelling around causes the shaft and 


28 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 


wheel to rotate, the peat being turned in 
front of the wheel by attendants. This is the 
same contrivance as that used by many 
country tanners for grinding bark. 

Another system is by crushing cylinders 
with transverse, corrugated, or angular sur¬ 
faces, some having the cylinders or crushers 
horizontal, others vertical; this is the cider- 
mill plan. 

The next method in order consists in a ver¬ 
tical rotating shaft, to which curved or radial 
arms or blades are secured, and with or with¬ 
out intermediate arms or grates fixed to the 
inside of the box or curb, the material passing 
in at the top and out at the bottom through 
proper openings. Some are designed to cut 
or break up the fibre and combine it with the 
pulpy portions; others mix only. This is 
similar to the Pug mills for kneading brick- 
clay. 

Another plan consists of a horizontal rotat¬ 
ing and main shaft with flat curved blades, 
also inclosed in a cylindrical box, the mate¬ 
rial passing in at the top at one end and out 
at the bottom of the other end. A second 
rotating shaft, also provided with curved 
blades, working intermediately with the other 
blades, is fixed above, but not over the 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


29 


main shaft. This rotates with higher speed 
than the lower one, and serves both as a 
manipulator and a comb, as it revolves in 
opposite direction and takes off the fibre, or a 
good part of it, and throws it into a receptacle, 
from which it passes out with more or less of 
the pulp at the same end as received; this 
forms a second-quality fuel. 

Another plan consists of a vertical cylinder 
with a conical base. of boiler iron, which 
conical portion is closely perforated with 
holes about one-quarter of an inch in diame¬ 
ter. Within this cylinder is a rotating verti¬ 
cal shaft, provided in its upper part with 
radial arms or blades, and at the lower end 
within the cone is a conical flat-bladed screw, 
the consequent pressure from which forces 
the pnlpy portion through the holes into a 
trough, while the fibres are forced out through 
an opening in the bottom of the cone. 

Some persons have kneaded the material in 
vats filled with water, raked out the fibre, 
allowed the pulp to settle, drained off the 
water, then removed the pulp for drying. 
This was patented in England to prepare the 
pulp for illuminating gas. 

I trust by these several methods I have said 
enough to give a general idea of that special- 

t 


30 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 

ty of the operations in manipulating the 
pulp. 

When the peat has been manipulated, it 
has to he dried, or moulded and then dried. 
There are many great difficulties attending 
the moulding of ulmin pulp in a wet state, as 
it comes direct from the bed to the kneader 
and then to the moulder; for usually there is 
an excess of water, and this is pressed from 
the mould, and where water passes, so will 
the pulp, particularly where the action is 
rapid; and the constant labor in cleansing 
away the waste seriously impedes the utility 
of all such plans. I think peat should always 
be partially dried before conveying it to the 
mill; it will involve increased power, but the 
advantage will compensate in a better result. 
Some believe that advantage is gained by 
treating the ulmin with hot water, and others 
with steam, to accelerate the drying. I 
doubt, however, the commercial practicability 
of any such methods, even were they success¬ 
ful in accomplishing a saving of time in the 
drying. j 

The moulding of ulmin paste is done chiefly 
on some of the many plans for making building 
bricks of cla} r , the moulds being used directly 
united with the pug-mill or manipulator, or] 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


31 


made by a distinct process or by band. 
Several attempts have been made to press 
the ulmin in a dry state ; but this requires 
great power, and the process is slow, and 
has been found too expensive, except in a 
case of recent trial which I shall describe. 

As a general condition, peat in the bed 
holds seventy-five per cent, of water—that is, 
four tons of peat in the bed will yield one ton 
of dried material. Ulmin bricks, however 
well prepared and pressed by any of the plans 
I have described, will be moist, and this must 
all be expelled if they are to be kept for win¬ 
ter use, for the frost will cause them to break 
up and disintegrate. Drying by artificial 
heat, even by the best method, I am satisfied is 
wrong to attempt. Aside from the expense 
of heating, it can only be done where the 
bricks are placed in separate layers on stages, 
and with continuous working great heat is 
always required. Artificial drying consequent¬ 
ly involves large room, attended with great 
volume of heat, and corresponding extensive 
surface for radiation, as well as consequent 
openings for its escape. We must depend 
upon the air and the sun as the most effective, 
the cheapest, and, on the whole, the quickest 
means we can use. 


oZ TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 

There is one important improvement which 
is working most encouragingly near Boston. 
The peat being first manipulated, the ulmin 
is treated in the following manner in drying 
and forming it into bricks. Trenches six feet 
wide, and of any convenient length, are dug 
six inches deep; boards one foot wide are 
placed vertically on their edges around the 
sides and ends, and the interior is then filled 
six inches deep with coarse sand or gravel, 
upon which porous bricks are closely and 
evenly laid; the upper edges of the boards 
then form a curb about three inches high. 

The manipulated ulmin is brought in cars 
or wheelbarrows and dumped upon the 
bricks, over which it is spread, and the sur¬ 
face made even and smooth by a straight 
edge drawn over the board edges. Then a 
rake or gauge-cutter is drawn across from end 
to end, dividing the pulp to the bricks into 
strips about three inches wide, and by a 
similar method it is cut transversely at inter¬ 
vals of ten inches length, thus forming the 
bricks, in which condition they are, when 
dry, removable. The result is, that while by 
all other methods the top surface dries, leav¬ 
ing the under part wet until turned over, in 
this case the absorbing action of the bricks 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


33 


takes the water from the lower part directly. 
I have seen the bricks thus treated in three 
hours after spreading the material, more freed 
from moisture than the best air and sun could 
effect in two days by external surface desic¬ 
cation ; indeed, the upper surface would take 
the imprint of a dime coin by its own weight, 
while I could have shaved the bottom with 
a knife — and this in weather succeeding 
several days” rain showers, and cloudy at the 
time. 

This plan has other advantages, the cuts to 
form the bricks not only permitting rain¬ 
water to pass down between them and be¬ 
tween the porous bricks to the porous bottom 
below, but presents the sides and ends to the 
drying influence of the air, each hour’s action 
of which, by the resulting shrinkage, opens 
wider and wider the exposure ; and I am 
satisfied that ulmin pulp treated in this man¬ 
ner will harden and dry in half the time that 
it will by any other method, and at a great 
saving of labor and time. Ancf the bricks 
thus formed have a density or specific gravity 
equal to machine-moulded bricks, samples of 
each of which now lie before me. 

The “ walks,” as they are named, are 
placed about four feet apart, and are dupli- 

2 * 


34 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 


cated—that is in alternate sets—so that when 
the ulmin bricks are removed from one set 
this is allowed the “ curing time,” or about 
two days for the porous bricks to dry, before 
receiving a fresh covering from the manipu¬ 
lator, which in this case is the invention of 
the same party. 

There remains for me to describe a process 
referred to on page 31, and which, under 
favorable conditions, I consider preferable to 
all other methods for treating peaty matter 
for fuel for steam. 

There are occasional deposits where the 
material is decomposed in a uniform level, 
and where the surface can be thoroughly 
drained. Such a locality would be selected 
for this process ; and after the drains are cut, 
the grass and turf are removed down to the 
pulpy deposit, and over a broad surface, thus 
exposing the material evenly to the air and 
sun. This surface is now scratched over at 
right angles* with iron-teethed rakes, to the 
depth of an inch or two. On a good day it 
will completely dry, so that t.wo batches may 

be collected—about twelve, and at four or five 

/ 

o’clock—by heapingfitup with straight-edged 
rakes, and barrowing it to the shelter sheds 
ready for pressing. 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 35 

When the deposit will not admit being dried 
on the bed,it maybe dug and spread on dry¬ 
ing platforms ; but it should be broken up as 
spread, and, after it is dry, removed to the sheds 
as in the other case. This system, I, for con¬ 
venience, will designate as dry manipulation , 
to distinguish it from the other processes de¬ 
scribed. 

The ulmin dried as described, is brought in 
barrows from the shelter-shed and dumped 
through the floor, into a box or bin formed un¬ 
derneath the floor, and which is the reservoir 
for the lower end of an elevator-train to convey 
the material into the top of the moulding 
machine, which is a vertical cylinder of iron, 
about five feet deep and two feet diameter, 
at the bottom of wfiiich the compressing 
apparatus is situated, the whole being 
fixed upon strong framework, and conve¬ 
nient to a steam-engine standing in the 
rear or behind the moulder, upon the 
same floor. Steam is admitted within and 
near the bottom of the cylinder, to soften 
and heat the material, which is mixed 
by a vertical shaft and arms like those 
before described. The * compressing is ef¬ 
fected in a strong iron chamber having 
a piston actuated horizontally from the in- 


36 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 


ner side by the engine; the top of this 
chamber is partly cut away, so that as the 
piston recedes the ulmin falls into it, fill¬ 
ing the space ; as the piston returns it com¬ 
presses the ulmin with great power, and forces 
it out of the front end by two cylindrical 
rings in continuous, blocks of two and a half 
inches diameter, which break off from the 
machine in lengths of about six inches, from 
its own weight. As the action is reci¬ 
procal, the block is projected about one and 
a half inches at each stroke, and with sixty 
strokes per minute. 

This fuel is more dense than anthracite 
coal, and the attendant assured me that the 
present machine—designed only as a trial ap¬ 
paratus—will turn off ten tons per day, at a 
cost not exceeding two dollars per ton. It 
is decidedly the best fuel-peat I have yet 
seen. 

I saw in England a machine for 'pressing 
dried peat , the bricks from which were 
double the density of anthracite coal. 

This apparatus consisted of a hollow cast- 
iron disk-wheel, about seven feet in diameter, 
and eighteen inches thick, and which was 
rotated horizontally in a cast-iron frame. The 
moulds were cast through the wheel near 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


37 


its outer edge; the interior of the wheel 
was hollow, which space was charged with 
steam through one of the journals, by which 
means the mould was always hot, which 
greatly facilitated the condensing of the peat, 
which was likewise heated. 

Standing above the wheel were four frames, 
two of which were very strong, and two 
slight. One frame carried the hopper under 
which the moulds passed and received their 
charge; the next frame carried a piston, 
which acted to say one-half the necessary 
pressure; that was completed by the second 
piston; while the fourth frame carried a piston 
to force the brick from the mould. It will 
be seen that when the four moulds were 
once filled, a brick was made at every move¬ 
ment of the wheel, which was stopped and 
started at the proper position by a pall and 
catch in the side. The apparatus produced 
superior material, but at too great an ex¬ 
pense. 

Another method which I inspected near 
Boston, is to mould from tanks that are con¬ 
structed above ground, and some thirty feet 
deep by about eight feet diameter, the bottom 
or floor of which is inclined at an angle of 
about thirty degrees, at the lower side of 


. - ' * 

40 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 

allowance for lost time, or a farthing for 
storing or transportation. 

i • 

FUEL. 

As a fuel, ill min is always improved, if 
condensed, as this retards combustion and 
gives greater heat; but, if cut in blocks of the 
proper size, and well air-dried, it answers 
well. In burning, it gives off a great vo¬ 
lume of carburetted hydrogen gas ; the hydro¬ 
gen being in excess, it affords a flame with 
but little or no smoke, and with intense heat, 
leaving a mass of incandescent coal, with good 
heating properties. Being free from impurity 
that will attack iron, peculiarly fits it for ge¬ 
nerating steam. It gives clean plates and 
flues to absorb the heat rapidly. These pro¬ 
perties also adapt it for smelting metals. 

For domestic use it is more essential that it 
be well dried if used in an open fire, because 
the water vapors which first pass off prevent 
the combustion of the gas, and unpleasant 
odors may escape into the room. It is also 
essential for its economic use that the flues be 
adapted to the fuel. 

“ The specific gravity of the best air-dried 
nlmin is about equal to two-thirds that of an¬ 
thracite coal, and its heating effect about the 


AL T D PEATY MATERIAL. 


41 


same proportion, unless it is pressed, when it 
is much increased,.according to the density.” 

I entertain no doubt that at all times and 
seasons, ulmin fuel may be used advantage¬ 
ously, if properly prepared, as compared with 
other fuels. And this may be determined at 
any time (with necessary furnaces) by weigh¬ 
ing equal quantities of different fuels as com¬ 
mercial^ sold, and evaporating water there¬ 
with, taking care always that heat be not 
wasted by unnecessary openings in the flues. 

The following will illustrate the diversity 
of opinion upon this material for calorific 
uses. In fact, the qualities of ulmin vary so 
much, that one may as well compare it at 
once to the general term of wood when used 
as fuel; as when told that a person obtained 
a certain dyty from a steam-boiler or engine 
with one cord of wood, it would be quite 
natural to ask if it was wet chestnut, or dried 
pitch pine, or hickory. So with the kind of 
ulmin, and also the manner of its preparation, 
and in a great measure in the method of burn¬ 
ing it. When used for generating steam, the 
ulmin should be massed up as near/ the fur¬ 
nace door as convenient; and when this has 
sent off all its gas, and is in a state of incan¬ 
descent coal, push the top part back, and 


40 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 

allowance for lost time, or a farthing for 
storing or transportation. 

* » i 

FUEL. 

As a fuel, ulmin is always improved, if 
condensed, as this retards combustion and 
gives greater heat; but, if cut in blocks of the 
proper size, and well air-dried, it answers 
well. In burning, it gives off a great vo¬ 
lume of carburetted hydrogen gas ; the hydro¬ 
gen being in excess, it affords a flame with 
but little or no smoke, and with intense heat, 
leaving a mass of incandescent coal, with good 
heating properties. Being free from impurity 
that will attack iron, peculiarly fits it for ge¬ 
nerating steam. It gives clean plates and 
flues to absorb the heat rapidly. These pro¬ 
perties also adapt it for smelting metals. 

For domestic use it is more essential that it 
be well dried if used in an open fire, because 
the water vapors which first pass off prevent 
the combustion of the gas, and unpleasant 
odors may escape into the room. It is also 
essential for its economic use that the flues be 
adapted to the fuel. 

“ The specific gravity of the best air-dried 
ulmin is about equal to two-thirds that of an¬ 
thracite coal, and its heating effect about the 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


41 


same proportion, unless it is pressed, when it 
is much increased,.according to the density.” 

I entertain no doubt that at all times and 
seasons, ulmin fuel may be used advantage¬ 
ously, if properly prepared, as compared with 
other fuels. And this may be determined at 
any time (with necessary furnaces) by weigh¬ 
ing equal quantities of different fuels as com¬ 
mercially sold, and evaporating water there¬ 
with, taking care always that heat he not 
wasted by unnecessary openings in the flues. 

The following will illustrate the diversity 
of opinion upon this material for calorific 
uses. In fact, the qualities of ulmin vary so 
much, that one may as well compare it at 
once to the p*eneral term of wood when used 

O 

as fuel; as when told that a person obtained 
a certain duty from a steam-boiler or engine 
with one cord of wood, it would be quite 
natural to ask if it was wet chestnut, or dried 
pitch pine, or hickory. So with the kind of 
ulmin, and also the manner of its preparation, 
and in a great measure in the method of burn¬ 
ing it. When used for generating steam, the 
ulmin should be massed up as near/ the fur¬ 
nace door as convenient; and when this has 
sent off all its gas, and is in a state of incan¬ 
descent coal, push the top part back, and 


42 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 


throw a fresh supply on to the front coals 
only; here the vapors will be evolved, and as 
they pass, the hot coals behind will be ignited 
and consumed, before entering the flues. 

A distinguished manufacturing firm in 
Massachusetts used 10,500 tons of “ peal,” 
chiefly in annealing wire. It was cut and 
dried, and drawn two and a half miles to 
their works, at an expense of about $2.50 per 
ton before the war, and $3.50 during the 
war, and at the same time using large quanti¬ 
ties of coal, wmod, and coke. They found that 
eighty bushels of the “ peat ” were about equal 
to one cord of chestnut or hemlock w r ood— 
eighty bushels should be about equal to 1850 
pounds. They state the “ peat was a good 
average quality,” but that they had seen peat 
fifty per cent, better. Their land cost $75 
per acre, which was worthless after digging 
the peat. 

Another party in the same State sold 
“ peat ” at $5 to $8 per cord—say one and a 
half tons—£Ood oak wood beiim the same 
price at the same place. 

In a Thames (Eng.) steamer, the furnaces 
being constructed for coal, 12 cwts. pressed 
“ peat ” were found equal to 28 cwts. New¬ 
castle coal for generating steam. 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


43 


In another case in England, in a locomo¬ 
tive, the results were, with “peat” 10 lbs. 
steam, in 1 h. 10 m.; 25 lbs. steam,in 1 h. 32 m.; 
while with coal it took 2 h. 25 m. to £ret steam 
to 10 lbs., and 3 h. to carry it up to 25 lbs. 
11J cwts. of u peat” kept steam up to 30 lbs. 
for 8 hours, requiring 11 \ cwts. coal to do 
the same. 

Treadgold gives us the result of one of his 
experiments in evaporating one cubic foot of 
water: “Newcastle coal, 8*40 lbs.; coke,* 
7*70 lbs. ; charcoal, 10'60 lbs.; peat charcoal 
23 lbs.; and peat, 30 lbs.” It is clearly evi¬ 
dent that his apparatus was not adapted to 
burning peat or charcoal. 

In a trial on the Paris and Lvons Railroad, 
“ we got up steam with peat in thirty minutes, 
coal requiring 120 minutes. AVe ran sixteen 
miles to a gravel pit, up a steep grade, and 
from there took on a load of 136 tons eighty 
miles further, when the blaze escaped a consi¬ 
derable distance above the chimney, which 
became red hot, and the boiler covering 
taking fire, we had to stop to extinguish it. 
After repairs we returned to Paris with thirty- 
eight miles per hour, the heat again increas¬ 
ing as we advanced. The fuel having no 
smoke and much gas, keeps up a constant hot 


44 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 

flame. The pressed peat gives far better re¬ 
sults than that which is not pressed. In fact, 
while using: it the generation of steam was so 

o o 

rapid I stood with my hand on the valve lever 
all the time, fearing an explosion. I found 
two pounds of pressed peat to produce more 
steam than one pound of the best coke.” 

A firm near Sheffield “ smelted from one ton 
of peat two and one-half tons of iron, which 
was rolled into thin plates, and proved superior 
'to any we had before seen.” In Scotland “ it 
proved 16 per cent, better than coal.” 

The charcoal is about half the bulk of the 
peat, and being free from sulphur, renders it 
extremely valuable in the arts, particularly for 
the finest steel. Peat charcoal was used in 
the Bank of England for softening steel plates 
and dies with great and most satisfactory suc¬ 
cess. I shall hereafter treat more particularly 
upon charcoal of ulmin in its many useful 
adaptations. 

In another case, in a locomotive running 
upwards of three months over seventy miles 
of road, and using “ peat,” is showed a saving 
by weight of over thirty per cent, over coal, 
using coal furnaces and flues, with fire-doors 
open all the time, and dampers down. 

In a series of trials by Chas. Wye Williams, 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


45 


Esq., of Liverpool, Eng.,—a gentleman who 
has for upwards of twenty-five years made 
the perfect economy of fuels and steam his 
special study—he furnishes a “ .Report of expe¬ 
riments on compressed peat as compared with 
other heating mediums, the specific gravities 
relating to that of water at 1000 : 

CJ 

Peat compressed into thin cakes . . 1,160 

11 coke made therefrom .... 1,040 

11 compressed into thick cakes . . 910 

11 coke made therefrom .... 913 

Hard dry wood—oak, ash, and elm . 800 a 885 

Charcoal from the same . . . 400 a*625 

“ Thus it will be seen that compressed peat 
is more dense than hard wood in the relation 
of 1160 to 885, and is, as compared with the 
lighter woods — poplar, pine, &c., nearly 
double; while the charcoal from the com¬ 
pressed peat is nearly double that of hard 
wood charcoal.” Of the calorific power he 
says : “ The usual mode of making assays of 
this kind by converting water into steam, 
does not lead to comparable results, unless 
made on a large scale and continued for a 
considerable time.” He should have added, 
wdiat must have been inadvertentlv omitted— 

•j 

that it is important to have each kind of fuel 
treated in an apparatus particularly fitted for it. 


46 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 


“And inasmuch as the absolute quantity 
of heat generated during the combustion of 
fuel is in exact relation to the quantity of 
oxygen consumed, the best method fbr ascer* 
taining the actual heating property is by 
treating it by the litharge process.” The 
proportions of those trials gave the heating 
, values in equal weights as follow: 


Pare carbon . 

Hard dry wood . 
Charcoal from the same 
Cood coke . 

Charcoal from surface peat 
Chareoal from lower peat 
Pressed peat. 


. 340 
100 a 140 
390 a 325 
200 a 285 

. 277 
. 250 
. 137 


“ But the intensity of the heat is often of 
more consequence than the quantity; and the 
intensity depends much upon the density of 
the fuel. .Thus charcoal cannot produce so 
high a heat as coke, inasmuch as it is com¬ 
mon to reckon that wood charcoal occupies 
half the space of an equal weight of coal 
coke; and in this respect the dense peat 
charcoal and coke are about equal, which 
comparisons are irrespective of the foreign 
matter that may be present, and which may 
injure the iron, whether it may be for render¬ 
ing it from the ore, or working it by fire 




AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


47 


generally, or when nsed under boilers for 
generating steam. 

“ It is well known that many foreign sub¬ 
stances enter into the composition of coal and 
coke, exercising injurious effects upon iron 
and steel in the furnace or the forge. In 
this respect the importance of peat charcoal 
becomes apparent. Iron is not only sooner 
brought by it to welding heat, but is found to 
work softer and with less scaling, which is so 
injurious, particularly for welding. These 
facts I have proved in the furnace where 
large boiler plates are heated, and also in 
forge operations, where I have found even the 
worst iron to be improved by it in quality.” 

“ I have found that charcoal from the light 
portions of the peat taken near the surface, 
and which is generally rejected for domestic 
fuel, is superior to that made from the deeper 
and more dense portions of the mass.” 

This last conclusion of Mr. Williams I am 
satisfied f by my own experiments will not 
always hold correct, and must have arisen 
from the particular locality from which his 
material for the experiment referred to was 
taken. He obtained it from Lancashire, and 
adds that the u Irish peat is superior in 
purity, containing less incombustible matter.” 


48 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 


In a series of trials by M. Berthier, to test 
the smelting values of different fuels, lie found 
the following proportionate results : 


Oak, Beech, Birch and Pine wood, 

. 31 per 

cent. 

Maple, ash and poplar charcoal, 

. 68 

u 

French peat, .... 

. 26 

a 

German do., .... 

. 34 

ll 

Irish do., ..... 

. 45 

a 

French peat charcoal, 

. 49 

u 

German do., .... 

. 64 

u 

Irish do., ..... 

. 84 

cc 

Newcastle coal, 

. 70 

u 

Glasgow do., .... 

. 56 

u 

French do., .... 

. 67 

a 

German do., 

. 48 

Cl 

Spanish do., .... 

. 49 

u 

Austrian do., .... 

. 43 

a 

As before stated, the ulminw 

hen cut f 

rom its 


bed is more or less spongy, and after draining 
is porous ; i| is always, when designed for fuel, 
best that it should be manipulated or kneaded, 
to break up the cells and render it more-homo¬ 
geneous and compact. This maybe done in any 
kind of pug-mill, or by passing it between roll¬ 
ers, or through a common cider-mill, or by any 
other convenient means. There are, however, 
several machines invented expressly for the 
purpose, but too expensive for private use. By 
the former mode it will be found effective, easy, 





AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


49 


and cheap, and pay well for the trouble. It 
should afterwards be spread in cakes and dried. 

Several patents have been obtained in Eng¬ 
land for artificial fuels composed partly of 
peat, such as peat and coal-dust ; peat and 
sawdust; peat and coke ; also with brewer’s 
waste—held together when pressed into bricks 
by coal-tar or other bituminous matters—one 
of which compounds, that for pressed fuel 
from peat, coal-dust, and coal-tar, has had a 
satisfactory employment for generating steam 
since 1852, and was also tried in Liverpool 
nearly ten years previously. 

This produces a valuable fuel from an 
otherwise worthless refuse from coal, the peat 
being ground and mixed until it fills all the 
interstices, so that when incorporated with 
coal-tar and pressed, it forms a compact solid 
brick of great calorific power. 

CHARCOAL. 

Charcoal from ulmin, for whatever purpose 
and in whatever manner employed, depends 
for its usefulness upon the purity of the raw 
material; for, as has been shown, the better 
the material the less “ ash,” and of course the 
more ash the less heat or other benefits from 
the charcoal; the excess of “ ash,” with a 

3 


50 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 


trifling exception, being always due to the 
foreign matter which has been mechanically 
mixed with raw material. Good air-dried 
ulmin will vield one-third its weight in char- 

«y O 

coal, containing at least 90 per cent, of 
carbon. 

Ulmin charcoal has been extensively used 
in Europe for smelting iron and other metals; 
as it is usually free from sulphur and other 
impurities found in coal and coke, it is peculiar¬ 
ly adapted for treating iron. At Horwich, 
Eng., “ in a furnace twenty-six feet high, and 
using a mixture of red hematite and Stafford¬ 
shire ore, an average of one ton of iron was 
smelted with one and a half tons of peat char¬ 
coal ; and it worked equally good results in 
the puddling and air furnaces. Eighty tons 
of the iron were made into chain cables, and 
proved the best we had ever made.” The 
“ peat ” was not pressed but w T as puddled— 
kneaded—-and formed into slabs or blocks be¬ 
fore burning. 

Good ulmin charcoal is double the density 
of that from good hard wood. 

The adaptability of ulmin for smelting iron 
as a substitute for wood charcoal or coke 
renders the purity of the material of the high¬ 
est importance, inasmuch as that,whether it is 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


51 


used raw-pressed, or carbonized, the charcoal 
is ultimately the chief agent for reducing the 
ores; hence, when it is combined with foreign 
mineral matter it is impoverished, if not 
worthless. And for the manufacture of steel, 
good ulmin charcoal is superior to any other 
substance. 

Ulmin charcoal has been long used by 
blacksmiths in Ireland, particularly by horse- 
slioers; many of whom make it in small quan¬ 
tities as they require it. They pile it up in 
cone shapes on the ground, set it on fire and 
cover it with earth ; and when burned extin¬ 
guish it with water. When made in larger 
quantities, a chamber or pit is dug in the 
earth or in the bog itself, which they fill with 
dried peat; and when well fired, it is covered 
with wet peat and smothered down. This is 
their most economic method, by which they 
usually get one ton of charcoal from two tons 
of peat, that is considered equal to the best 
English charcoal. 

In burning any material for charcoal, the 
closer and more solid the material be packed, 
the larger and better the product will prove; 
hence all interstices should be avoided if 
possible. 

Peat charcoal powder has a peculiar effect 


52 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 

\ 

when it is applied to and incorporated with 
the surface soil of flowering plants; it 
causes the colors to greatly increase in in¬ 
tensity. 

It has long been used by pyrotechnists, in 
Europe, in the composition for fireworks, par¬ 
ticularly for colored fires, giving them greater 
brilliancy than could be effected by any 
other carbon. The artificer of Vauxhall Gar¬ 
dens, London, who declares it to be twenty 
per cent, more combustible than any other 
charcoal, long retained the secret of the ma¬ 
terial used by himself which gave his works a 
wide reputation for their superiority. 

If the dried ulmin be ground into granules 
of a size of say ten to the inch as the coarsest, 
which is easily regulated by the mill, and 
afterwards be screened, a large part of it will 
be found in the condition of fine powder, 
which should be kept separate ;'and the coarser 
portion may be further screened into distinct 
sizes of granules, say'three or more. The ex¬ 
pense of grinding and screening will add but 
little to the cost per ton. If in this condition 
it be inclosed in sheet-iron cases and dis¬ 
tilled in retorts, the fine portion will be con¬ 
verted into fine black powder, which may be 
used for paint, blacking, fireworks, printing- 


/ 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


53 


ink, and other uses; and the granmated por¬ 
tion into a material so closely resembling 
ordinary gunpowder as to defy detection by 
the eye alone; but under the microscope each 
granule will be found porous, which peculiarly 
iits it for discoloring fluids, which effect cannot 
be obtained if the ulmin be carbonized before 
grinding, as the sponge-like feature is thus 
destroyed, and by closing the pores the deodo¬ 
rizing or decolorizing surface is greatly redu¬ 
ced. It is also a superior article for filtering 
water, and has many other valuable uses. 
The gas may be conveyed into the retort fur¬ 
nace and burned there, thus greatly economiz¬ 
ing the process, or it may be conveyed through 
pipes for other heating purposes. When the 
process of distillation is complete the retort is 
opened, the cover of the case closed, thus shut¬ 
ting out the air and preventing the forming of 
ashes ; the case may be withdrawn and pla¬ 
ced away to cool, another being at once insert¬ 
ed in its place. The sheet-iron cases will last 
a long time, as they chill at once on being 
withdrawn, and when in the retort there is 
but very little action of oxygen upon the iron. 

A mixture of equal parts of pulverized 
ulmin and pulverized charcoal makes a supe¬ 
rior facing for moulds for casting metals. 


54 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 


/ * 

GAS. 

There is no property or adaptability of peaty 
material in which it is so varied in results as 
those derived from its destructive distillation ; 
producing a large volume of carburetted hydro¬ 
gen, varying in its illuminating power from 
two candles to twenty candies; arising in a 
chief degree from the nature of the vegetable 
from which it was produced. It also varies 
greatly in its proportion of carbonic oxide and 
carbonic acid gases, both of which impair 
the illuminating power of the gas. 

Ordinary good fuel ulmin will produce from 
7,000 to 10,000 cubic feet of gas per ton, and 
of an illuminating power varying from eight to 
twelve candles; too poor for lighting pur¬ 
poses, but for heating is greatly superior to 
. commercial gas. 

Various means have been tried to enrich 
this gas by distilling with it substances 
rich in carbon ; such as Albert coal, boghead 
coal, cannel coal, rosin, coal-tar, pitch, refuse 
grease, etc.: each and all with more or less im¬ 
provement in cost and product, but none with 
complete success in both respects. 

Another improvement consists in using pe¬ 
troleum for the enriching medium. This being 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


55 


found the cheapest, the most convenient, and 
the richest in gas—as one gallon will yield 
150 cubic feet and upwards of gas, with more 
illuminating power than 300 feet of the best 
coal gas—three tons of dried ulmin and forty 
gallons crude petroleum will produce 24,000 
cubic feet of superior commercial gas and one 
ton charcoal; which, if prepared and treated 
as described under that heading, will sell for 
a price nearly equal to the whole expense, 
leaving the cost of the gas almost nil. 

FERTILIZER. 

Finely-powdered ulmin charcoal has been 
extensively used as a deodorizer. It absorbs 

nine hundred and twentv-five times its volume 

1/ 

of oxygen gas and fifty per cent, of water; 
it contains ninety per cent, of carbon, while 
animal charcoal has but ten per cent. ; it also 
absorbs large quantities of fetid gases. It is 
the property of both ulmin and ulmin-charcoal 
to absorb large volumes of gases ; water will 
wash them free from the charcoal, and not 
from the raw ulmin—and this latter will ab¬ 
sorb ammonia; whereas the charcoal does not. 
These facts prove the adaptability of the raw 
powder for fertilizing uses. . 

As a fertilizer, ulmin is variously treated 


56 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 

and lias as varied a reputation. Many take it 
directly from the u muck bed ” to the barn¬ 
yard depot, or to the compost heap, or spread 
it over the land as a manure, each of which 
methods is very wrong and pernicious. The 
acid property of the muck bed is injurious to 
vegetation. It should first be spread not over 
twenty inches thick, and be allowed to remain 
until the next year. The rains will wash out 
the acid, and the winter frosts disintegrate the 
mass into coarse, porous granules ; in which 
condition it may be advantageously employed, 
either by spreading broadcast and ploughing 
in, or left upon the surface, or mixing it with 
other materials. From twenty-live to one 
hundred per cent, of dried ulmin may be 
mixed with the manure, which should be 
treated by drying a quantity to get the pro¬ 
portion. If it be urgent to use peat the same 
year it is dug, it should first be spread not more 
than ten inches thick, and after two months’ ex¬ 
posure dried and ground, when it will be in a si¬ 
milar condition for use to that before described. 

Ulmin undergoes little or slow change where 
it exists in its compact and water-saturated beds; 
but when it is disintegrated and mixed with 
the porous soil, where, from evaporation, there 
is a constant changing of its degrees of mois- 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


57 


tore and temperature, admitting the air, the 
decomposition is rapid, and vast volumes of 
gases are evolved; the resulting elements being 
carbonic and oxygen gases, forming carbonic 
acid gas ; carbonic and hydrogen gases, form¬ 
ing light carburetted hydrogen ; hydrogen 
and nitrogen gases, forming ammonia ; besides 
other gases*and mixtures, all of which contri¬ 
bute eventually to the process of vegetation. 
Some of these properties furnish the plants 
with their own special essential of nourish¬ 
ment, while others serve in the decomposition 
of the mineral ingredients of the soil, so that 
they also, with the carbonic acid and nitrogen 
gases drawn from the air, may be in a condi¬ 
tion to serve in the mysterious duty of com¬ 
pleting the structure of plants. 

The formula of ulmin is— 

Ulmin, (pure) Carbon 40 Hydrogen 1G Oxygen 14 
Humus, u Carbon 40 Hydrogen 15 Oxygen 15 
Ulmic Acid, . Carbon 40 Hydrogen 14 Oxygen 12 
Humic Acid, Carbon 40 Hydrogen 12 Oxygen 12 

The two first dissolve slowly in alkalies, un¬ 
less the latter be highly concentrated. It will 
be seen that ulmin, having parted with one 
equivalent of II. and O., becomes humus, and 
with an additional loss of IT. 1, O. 3, becomes 

3* 


58 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 


ulmic acid, and when parting with two more 
elements of hydrogen becomes humic acid, 
which last is soluble in water. In this process 
of decomposition, or combination of oxygen 
with the carbonaceous material, carbonic acid 
gas is evolved, and doubtless carbon is pre¬ 
sented in a liquid or fluid compound with hy¬ 
drogen and oxygen, and with alkaline silicates, 
in a condition for vegetable nourishment. 

When this process occurs in the saturated 
beds of ulmin, the acids are absorbed to a 
considerable extent, and held by the water, 
the evaporation of which from year to year 
concentrates, and thus furnishes the raw ma¬ 
terial with that sour property so injurious to 
the soil, for the correction of which farmers 
mix lime or other alkalies in the compost 
heaps. I doubt, however, if this neutralized 
compound aflords a proper benefit. It is far 
better to wash out the acid. The same acid 
may be formed in the process of decomposition 
in the soil, where it will perform its proper 
duty in disintegrating the earths, particularly 
those of alkaline bases, fitting them for further 
decomposition and solution in water. 

A gentleman of extensive agricultural ex¬ 
perience insists that he has tried “ muck ” to 
his heart’s disgust, and that it has no virtue 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


59 


as a fertilizer, “ except to produce good crops 
of sorrel.” He liad used it improperly. Be¬ 
sides, this material varies in«fits qualities for 
agricultural use almost as much as for com¬ 
bustion. That it certainly does possess pro¬ 
perties beneficial for vegetation seems to me 
to admit of no question. 

The dark color of surface soils arises from 
the admixture of decomposed vegetable mat¬ 
ter—ulmin—resulting from decayed roots and 
plants grown on the spot or mixed with the 
manure applied to it. Dried ulmin is a 
powerful disinfectant, absorbing and holding 
ammonia and sulphuretted hydrogen, which it 
will not give up when saturated with water, 
and which are evolved from the manure heap, 
which it thus deodorizes. It will only part 
with those fertilizing specifics in its process 
of decomposition in the soil. As an extreme 
test of its deodorizing properties, I placed in a 
flower-glass, two inches depth of most'offen¬ 
sive night-soil, covering it with dry and finely 
powdered ulmin, and fixed in it a bouquet of 
fragrant flowers. This remained for several 
days on a table in the drawing-room, no one 
suspecting the extent to which my perhaps im¬ 
prudent zeal had carried me. If sprinkled 
thickly over a night scavenger's cart, or the sur- 


60 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 


face soil of a privy, it will arrest all offensive¬ 
ness. 

Its hygrometric nature lias a proper cooling 
effect on the soil, which moisture facilitates 
the process of chemical action on every ele¬ 
ment of it. It always is found with a good 
percentage of fixed ammonia, and in light 
loose soils it impedes filtration. Reduced to 
a fine powder, it readily dissolves in caustic 
potash, producing a beautiful clear brownish 
fluid; a weak solution will produce the same 
result, but requires longer time. This color¬ 
ing property, when precipitated with an acid, 
becomes ulmic acid. Sugar treated with a 
weak solution of acid produces a similar color, 
which, precipitated with an alkali, results in 
the identical substance; and this, by the 
slight change before shown, renders it soluble 
in water—a process which seems to prepare it 
for the plant before forming carbonic acid gas. 

Distinguished and'justly eminent physiolo¬ 
gists believe that but a trifling percentage of 
the carbon of plants and trees is derived 
directly from elements in the soil, the chief 
source of the supply being from the air 
through the medium of the roots and 
branches. I confess this theory does not 
always seem tenable to me; while many be- 


61 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 

lieve more carbon is absorbed by the leaves 
than is drawn from the roots. I see no reason 
why that heavy gas should not permeate the 
earth from the air and be taken up by the 
roots, as well as the asserted trilling propor¬ 
tion alleged to be furnished from the vege- 
table decomposition in the soil. This latter 
agency appears to me to be immensely under¬ 
rated. All admit that the alkaline and sili- 
cious, as well as all other mineral properties, 
arise solely through the roots in watery solu¬ 
tions. Now, why not carbon as a fluid as 
well as in gas? While the tree is growing 
the sap travels upwards through the capillaries, 
depositing its burdens of matter for digestion 
and organization in forming wood ; the water 
passing off through the leaves, which are 
alleged to absorb carbon through the day 
and evolve it at night. I admit my presump¬ 
tion in questioning the truth of a theory so 
widely adopted, yet so incomprehensible to 
me ; and my justification, aside from that fact, 
is the varied and contradictory theories upon 
this as well as other important phenomena in 
vegetable life. 

All saps contain the elements of carbon, 
sugar consisting of little else than carbon 
and water. A lump of sugar placed On a 


62 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 

hot plate first liquefies, because the heat dis¬ 
engages the water of crystallization, which 
passes off in puffs of steam, leaving charcoal: 
and by a wet process; place a lump of sugar 
in a tumbler, and upon it let fall a few drops 
of sulphuric acid ; the water having a greater 
affinity for the acid than for carbon, will go 
to it, leaving charcoal as before, and by care¬ 
fully washing out the acid and filtrating, the 
carbon in both cases will be collected as an 
impalpable black powder. 

It is unreasonable to suppose that the co¬ 
pious sugar-laden sap of the maple (which 
flows for weeks in the early spring from a tree 
that has been bled for years and years with 
no visible impoverishment to it) has been 
pent up in its cells for an entire winter, and 
is set free at a time when the buds have not 
even expanded, and the earth is still covered 
and sealed with snow'that rests upon compact 
ice. Can carbon gas, absorbed through the 
leaves of a gigantic elm or oak, be believed 
to traverse its branches to form the wood of 
the trunk at its base, when it is well known 
that the sap current is always upwards ? or 
that the early carbon-laden sap has obtained 
its supply from the carbonic acid gas that has 
been sealed up all winter in the soil? 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


63 


I will, however, now give a variety of 
quotations on the subject from standard 
works, to illustrate the complexity of opi¬ 
nions. 

“The atmosphere is the great storehouse 
from which trees receive their nourishment.” 

“ The requisite materials exist in the air.” 

“The air, therefore, must have furnished 
the whole, which conclusive evidence is amply 
confirmed by a variety of familiar facts, such 
as the accumulatiofL of vegetable matter in 
peat bogs.” 

• “ The carbon is conveyed only through the 
medium of carbonic acid gas, which is derived 
solely f rom the air .” 

“ Leaves exhale the moisture absorbed by 
the roots, and contain a much larger per cent, 
of alkali and less carbon than the wood.” 

“ It is admitted that the mineral constituents 
of plants are furnished from the soil, having 
been dissolved and taken up by the water, 
and then absorbed by the roots.” 

“ The farmer, in removing his annual crops, 
robs the land of its supply of nourishment 
from the decay of the previous years, contain¬ 
ing not only the alkaline, but the carbon ele¬ 
ments, which must be supplied artificially by 
manure.” 



64 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 

“ The mode by which the vegetable world 
is turned to account by growing plants, has 
not yet been sufficiently investigated.” 

A world-renowned writer says—“ Some 
virgin soils, such as those in America, contain * 
vegetable matter in large proportions, to 
which the term humus has been applied. 
Indeed, this particular substance appears to 
play an important part in the phenomena of 
vegetation, and the fertility of that soil is as¬ 
cribed to its presence. % * * * It is 

itself the product of decay of vegetable mat¬ 
ter, and must therefore contain many of the 
constituents which are found in plants during 
life. 

“ In the form in which it exists in the soil 
it does not afford the slightest nourishment to 
plants.” 

Neither do alkaline earths, nor anv of the 

* */ 

elements of vegetable growth. All must un¬ 
dergo chemical changes before they are fitted 
to be absorbed by the roots, after which still 
further changes are requisite in their transit 
through the root and the superior structure to 
fit them for organic employment. 

“ Both the cold of winter and heat of sum¬ 
mer are destructive of the solubility of humic 
acid, -and at the same time of its capacity of 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


65 


being assimilated by plants, so that if ab¬ 
sorbed by them it must be in some other 
form.” 

“ Humus does not nourish the plant by 
being taken up in its unaltered state, but 
by presenting a slow and lasting source of 
carbonic acid, which is absorbed b.y the roots, 
and is the principal nourishment of young 
plants, as when destitute of leaves they are 
unable to extract it from the atmosphere.” 

“ Plants which live in a soil containing 
humus exhale much more carbonic acid gas 
during the night than those which grow in 
dry situations. These facts point out the cause 
of numerous contradictions, but they are un¬ 
worthy of consideration, as they do not assist 
in the solution of the main question.” 

In proof that plants derive their supply of 
carbon direct from the air, reference is made 
by the same distinguished author to “ that 
period of the earth’s history when there was 
no vegetation, and consequently there could 
have been no liumus.” 

At that—the third—era in the earth’s for¬ 
mation, when its first or incipient elements of 
unmixed gases—a cloud of shapeless vapors 
floating in space—had set out on its planetary 
round, and been changed by surface condensa- 


66 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 

tion, chemical affinities, aggregation, and con¬ 
sequent heat, to a spherical form with a plas¬ 
tic crust that had thickened or deepened and 
solidified from the resulting evolvement of 
heat; the bulk immensely lessened, the sur¬ 
face contracting in vast wrinkles and rents, 
forming hills and valleys of sterile rock. 

Now came earthquakes, lightning, and 
thunder, uniting hydrogen and oxygen in the 
atmosphere, and down came the first water in 
rain floods, cooling and disintegrating the sur¬ 
face of the hill-tops and sides, carrying to the 
valleys the debris of mud saturated with car¬ 
bonic acid gas, which then composed a large 
proportion of the atmosphere; thus forming 
the first and truly virgin soil. 

From this soil started that gigantic and 
quick-maturing vegetation composed so high¬ 
ly of carbonic and hydrogen gases, which 
grew into that atmosphere of dense poison, 
that under its volumes of pressure was con¬ 
tinually forced into the soil as the plant ab¬ 
sorbed it, and thus robbed the atmosphere in 
a great degree of its carbon, leaving the oxy¬ 
gen and nitrogen free to form “ air.” By the 
rapid decomposition of those plants the carbon 
was locked and bottled up in oil springs and 
coal fields. By subsequent disintegrations, 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


67 


dissolutions, and aggregations, other larcenies 
were perpetrated on this early atmosphere of 
carbon gas to form carbonate rocks of lime 
and other minerals, which together at last 
fitted the earth for habitation by animals and 
man, who learned only in the eighteenth and 
nineteenth centuries the final applicability 
and duty of those mediums for contributing 
so vastly to his comfort, usefulness, and 
wealth. 

That this is pertinent to our general subject, 
I shall endeavor to show. It clearly seems 
that the above described geological phenome¬ 
na would then produce the precise results to 
that first vegetation which modern enterprises 
and researches have developed — that the 
first soil was mud, and its bulk in small pro¬ 
portion to that of water. Consequently the 
first plants were aquatic, or those which grew 
in and chiefly under water; and, following 
the same laws as do water plants of the pre¬ 
sent time, they decomposed the water, absorb¬ 
ing the carbon and hydrogen, and liberating 
the oxygen; both the soil and water being 
saturated with carbonic gases, they were assi¬ 
milated by the plants in whicli hydrogen pre¬ 
dominated, which, in their decomposition, left 
petroleum. 


68 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 

The process of forming and precipitating 
water, and decomposing the rocky surfaces, 
continued, and was augmented by rains result¬ 
ing at last from evaporation and condensation, 
until the bulk or depth of the soil had shal¬ 
lowed the waters, some of which were doubt¬ 
less drawn off into newly formed and deeper 
valleys. Then came forth new genera of 
plants, which, growing into the atmosphere 
that was, with the soil, still saturated with 
carbonic gases, but without the source of hy¬ 
drogen, formed plants in which carbon pre¬ 
dominated, and in their decomposition pro¬ 
duced mineral coal. 

It is quite probable that the plants forming 
bituminous coal grew in a moist soil, and 
those forming an anthracite from one holding 
less water, which seems to me a more reason¬ 
able theory than that the latter has lost its 
bitumen by any mechanical or chemical dis¬ 
persion or assimilation. 

The plastic crust continued and alternated 
its folding waves. The disintegration of rocks 
and formation of soil went on. New forma¬ 
tions of matter aggregated and solidified from 
the former ruins, which in their turn were 
disintegrated into soil with new elements. 
The atmosphere was purified, and slow-grow- 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


69 


mineral-absorbing plants sprang forth, 
which in their decomposition leave ulmin. 

The combustion of those early concentrated 
carbons liberates for the nourishment of mod¬ 
ern vegetation the virgin carbon gases which 
have been imprisoned since the creation. 

Nature, in her process of construction, de¬ 
struction, and reproduction, employs always 
the same elements. Carbonic acid gas, the 
great medium of vegetable growth, is the 
most destructive of all known poisons to ani¬ 
mal life if taken into the lungs, while they as 
well as the surface pores evolve it in incredi¬ 
ble volumes. Carbon is produced by vegeta¬ 
tion in a condition for animal nourishment, 
and forms a great proportion of animal mat¬ 
ter. All vegetable and animal matter in its 
process of decomposition gives back again 
free carbonic acid gas, to serve anew in its 
proper and primary duty to the organic world. 

The fine dry ulmin powder has other valua¬ 
ble uses. If mixed in equal parts with finely 
powdered guano, it not only serves as a corpus 
for that rich manure, instead of ashes, sand, or 
earth, but completely deodorizes the guano, 
destroying its offensiveness wdien kept in close 
apartments, but prevents its caustic action on 
incipient vegetation and holds the ammoniacal 


70 TREATMENT AND USES OF PEAT, 


salts, preventing their solution with rain wa¬ 
ter, and consequent loss by percolation into 
the deep soil. It also assists the decomposi¬ 
tion of the phosphates, yielding the fertilizing 
virtues of the manure gradually, as required 
by the plants, and, doubtless, for reasons be¬ 
fore given, adds a nourishing property by its 
own decomposition. 

Powdered ulmin, if mixed with the marc 
or pomace of fish, resulting from the oil works 
along the coast—which send forth to the sur¬ 
rounding districts such disgusting and into¬ 
lerable odors—will effectually prevent these 
nuisances, and immensely improve the quality 
and quantity of the manure they have for 
sale, but which, in the condition now used, 
prohibits its being placed near any habitation 
of decent people. 

CONCLUSION. 

I trust the preceding pages afford sufficient 
proof of the utility of this natural product of 
vegetation and time ; this commoditv so abun- 
dant and convenient, found within econorfiie 
reach of every northern country home. 

European geologists have slightly noticed 
peaty deposits; but the official geological 
reports to the several States of our country 


AND PEATY MATERIAL. 


71 


have, from time to time, and even }mars ago, 
contained special, and often elaborate mention 
of the extent of those accumulations of decom¬ 
posed vegetation, with more or less speculation 
as to its probable ultimate utilization. 

One naturally asks how it can be that a sub- 

1/ 

stance found in such vast quantities, and so 
generally existing in those districts w r here fuel 
is always expensive, should have been so long 
overlooked ? The reply must be found among 
those numerous anomalous facts, that men 
often fail to do that which interest demands 
until compelled by absolute tyrant necessity. 

The exhaustion of our forests simply for 
fuel, the destruction of valuable timber-trees 
by the charcoal-burner, have long engaged the 
attention of far-seeing economists. But it is on 
account of the unreasonable and constantly in¬ 
creasing cost of mineral coal, controlled as that 
trade is by men whose avarice seems without 
limit; who govern a specialty in the domestic 
economy of our country, only second to that 
of food itself; and yet who thrive most, as 
they make those suffer most, on whom them¬ 
selves do most depend—that this long-tried 
public, whose wants are greatest when least 
able to be borne, naturally looks with great 
interest to the utilizing of peaty matters. 


72 TREATMENT AND USES OF FEAT, ETC. 

There can be no question that the present 
general interest evinced in the econom}^ of peat 
owes its existence solely to the excessive prices 
demanded for coal during the past three years; 
and it will not be the least among the blessings 
or benefits our population may realize from 
late trials, if we find near home a potent auxi¬ 
liary for checking a hardship so rapidly grow¬ 
ing to a tyranny; and ultimately embark in 
enterprises connected with the adaptability of 
peat, which in usefulness, profit, and wealth 
may in a great degree rival the coal monopolies 
themselves. 


s 


INDEX. 


A. 


Abbeville, 19. 

Acid property in peat, 9, 56, 58. 

Acetic acid, 14, 15. 

Acetate of lime, 15. 

Adulteration—how caused, 8, 10. 

likely to extend entire depths, 11. 

Air, 63. 

drying, 31, 39, 50. 

Albert coal, 54. 

Alkali, 57, 58, 60, 61, 63, 64. 

Alumina, 18. 

Ammonia, 17, 55, 57, 59, 60. 

Ammoniacal liquor, 15. 

American geologists, 70. 

Analysis of peat, 18, 19. 

wood, 19. 
mineral coal, 19. 

Annealing wire, 42. 

steel plates, 44. 

Animal charcoal, 55. 

Anthracite coal, 68. 

Appearance of peat, 9, 10, 13, 24, 25, 48. 
Artificial heat, 24, 31, 39. 
fuel, 49. 

Atmosphere, 63, 65. 

Ashes, 17, 18, 19, 21, 49. 

Ash trees, 19. 

Asphaltum, 13. 


4 



74 


INDEX. 


B. 

Beech wood, 19, 48. 

Berthier’s test of fuels, 48. 

Birch wood, 13, 19, 48. 

Bituminous coal, 68. 

Blacking, 52. 

Bog-head coal, 54. 

Bohemia, 19. 

Boiler-plates and flues, 40, 47. 
Bottoms of peat beds, 11. 

Burning of peat—instructions for, 41. 
Burgundy, 19. 

C. 


Candle peat, 13. 

Cannel coal, 54. 

Carburetted hydrogen, 21, 40, 54, 57. 

Carbonic oxide, 54. 

Carbonic acid, 54, 57, 60, 61, 62, 63, 65, 66, 69. 

Carbon, 18, 19, 46, 57. 

Carbon in peat, 18, 19, 50, 55. 
in plants, 60, 61, 63. 
from air, 60. 
in sugar, 62. 

Caustic potash, 60. 

Calorific power of peat charcoal, 45. 

Charcoal, 21, 41, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51, 55, 61. 
density of, 45,^46, 50. 
for steel, 44, 51. 
iron improved by, 47. 
from surface peat, 47. 
from peat—Irish methods, 51. 
directions for packing, 51. 
for flowering plants, 52. 
for blacking, 52. 
for paint, 52. 
for printing-ink, 52. 
for pyrotechnists, 52. 
granulated, 52, 43. 
for filtration, 53. 
for disinfecting, 55. 


INDEX. 


75 


Charcoal, from surface, 62. 

powdered, 51, 55. 

Chicago, 13. 

Cldrmont, 19. 

Coal—Austrian. 48. 

French, 48. 

German, 48. 

Scotch, 48. 

Spanish, 48. 

Coal tar, 49, 54, 
dust, 49. 

Companies in England, 14. 

Components of peat, 15, 1?, 18. 

Condensing of peat—advantages of, 24, 26, 4' 
by hydrostatic pressure, 3t. 
Conflicting opinions. 41, 58, 63. 

Cost of working peat, 24, 39, 42. 

Copper, 18. < 

Cutting and gathering peat, 22, 23. 

Cutting spade, 23. 

Creasote, 15. 

D. 

Dartmoor, 19. 

Depth of peat, 8, 13. 

Decomposition in soil, 58. 

Density of peat, 45. 

charcoal, 50. 

Deodorizer, 55. 

Digging machinery, 2*7. 

Disinfectant, 59. 

Drainage, 22. 

Drain tiles, 33. 

Drying, 23. 

artificially, 24, 31, 39. 
in air, 31, 39. 
in porous bricks, 32. 

Dry pressing, 34, 36. 

E. 

England, 12, 13. 15, 16, 18, 36,‘ 41 
Eichfield, 10. 



76 


INDEX. 


F. 


Fetid gases, 55. 

Fertilizer, 55, 

improper use of, 56, 58. 
modes of treating for, 56. 
Fibrous peat, 8, 22, 23, 25, 39, 47. 
Fibre, separation by machinery, 29. 

washing,. 29. 

Fish pulp, 69. 

Fluids, decolorizing of, 53. 
Flowering plants, 52. 

Foundery facings, 53. 

Forest peat, 8, 12. 

France, 18, 19, 24, 28, 43. 

peat-getting, 24 
Frost, danger from, 21. 

Fuel, 40. 

for steam, 17. 
tests, 48. 
artificial, 49. 

Berthier’s tests, 48. 


G. 

Gas, 11, 13, 16, 21, 41, 53, 54. 
volume to ton, 54, 55. 
illuminating power of, 54. 
enriching mixtures, 54. 
petroleum, 54. 
fetid, 55. 

carbonic acid, 54, 57, 60. 61, 62. G3. 65, 66, 69. 
carbonic oxide, 54. 

carburetted hydrogen, 21, 40, 54, 57. 
hydrogen, 57, 66, 67. 
nitrogen, 57. 
oxygen, 55, 57, 66. 

Geological theory, 65. 

Guano, 60. 

Granulated peat, 52. 

Granulated char.coal. 52, 53, 


INDEX. 


77 


ii. 

Hatfield, bog', 13. 

Heat, intensity of, 46. 

Heating by gas, 53. 

Hickory wood, 19, 41. 

Horwich, 50. 

Humus, 57, 64, 65. 

Humic acid, 57, 58. 

Hydrogen gas, 18, 57, 58, 66, 67. 
Hygrometric nature of peat, 16, 21, 60. 


I. 


Illuminating power, 54. 
Impurities of, 46, 47, 50. 
Instructions for burning, 41. 
Iron, 18. 

smelting, 14, 44, 50. 
welding, 47. 

Irish blacksmiths, 51. 

Ireland, 18, 48. 

L. 

Labor, 31, 39. 

in France, 24. 

Lead, 18. 

Leaves, 61, 63, 64. 

Lime, 18, 58. 

Litharge test, 26. 

Localities of peat, 7. 


M. 


Machinery for treating, 15. 

condensing, 26, 48. 

Magnesia, 18. 

Manipulation, advantage of, 24, 48. 
by hand, 27. 

Chilian mill, 37. 


78 


INDEX. 


Manipulation by cider-mill, 27. 

pug-mill, 28. 

compound horizontal, 28. 
Maple trees, 48, 62. 

Massachusetts, 8, 42. 

Measure for quantity, 20. 

Metals, casting of, 53. 

Mineral coal, 18, 19, 68. 

condition of plants, 61, 63. 
Moulding in wet state, 30. 

in dry state, 31. 

Muck, 9, 10, 13, 18, 56, 58. 


N. 

Naphtha, 15. 

Night-soil, 52, 59. 

scavengers, 59. 

Nitrogen gas, 57. 

Novaculi, 12. 


0 . 


Oak wood, 12, 13, 48. 

Odors, offensive, 40. 

Oils from peat, 14, 15. 

Opinions, conflicting, 41, 58, 63. 
Origin of peat, 8, 9, 12, 56. 
Oxygen gas, 18, 55, 57, 66. 


P. 


Paint, 52. 

Paraffine, 15. 

Parliamentary speculations, 14. 
Peat—French, 19. 

German, 19. 

Irish, 18. 

English, 18. 

Scotch, 18. 

Maine, 19. 


INDEX. 


79 


Peat—Bohemia. 19. 

Wurtemburg. 19. 
in warm climates, 13. 
deposits, where found, T. 

depth of, 8. 13. 
for heating, 8. 
for gas, «8. 
for fertilization, 8. 
timber, 12. 13. 
components of, 15, 17, 18. 

Petroleum, 54. 55, 67. 

Phosphates, 18. 

Pine, 12, 13, 19, 41, 45, 48. 

Pitch, 54. 

Plants, 57, 60. 

Powdered charcoal, 51. 

Porous bricks, 32, 33. 

Potash, 18, 60. 

Poplar wood, 45. 

Privy, SO. '' 

Printing-ink, 52. 

Pressure, 39. 

Products from peat, 14, 15. 

Pyrotechnists, 52. 


Pv. 

Refuse grease. 54. 

Retorts, 52, 53. 

Roman wood. 13. 

Roots, 12, 60, 61. 

Rosin. 54. 

trees, 11. 

Resinous asphalt. 15. 


S. 


Sap, 61, 62. 

Sawdust, 49. 

Scotland, 13, 18. 
Sheet-iron cases, 52, 53. 
Silicates. 61. 


80 


9 


INDEX. 


Smelting iron, 48, 50. 

Soda, 18. 

Soil, 10, 59. 

change in, 56, 59, 61. 

Specific gravity, 40. 

Steam generating, 17, 21, 35, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46. 
Steaming peat, 35, 37. 

Steel-making, 44, 51. 

plate, softening, 44. 

Stearine candles, 14. 

Sugar, 60, 61, 62. 

Sulphur, 17, 18, 44, 50. 

Sulphate of ammonia, 15. 

Sulphuretted hydrogen, 59. 

Swamp peat, 8, 9. 


T. 


Test for quality, 21. 
for quantity, 20. 
with other fuels, 41, 42. 
on a Thames steamer, 42. 

• on English railroads, 43, 44. 
on French railroads, 43. 
by Treadgold, 43. 
in iron-smelting, 44, 50. 
for steel, 44. 

by Chas. Wye Williams, 44. 
by litharge process, 46. 
by Berthier, 48. 
for deodorizing, 59. 

Timber from peat beds, 12, 13. 
Trees, 11, 12, 60, 61. 

Turpentine trees, 11. 


U. 

Ulrnin, 17, 18, 22, 31, 35, 38, 39, 41, 50, 57, 58. 
formula for, 57. 
decomposition of, 57. 

Flrnic acid, 17, 57, 58, 60. 69. 


INDEX. 




81 


v. 

Varieties of pent, 8, 18, 25, 41, 59. 
Volatile matter in peat, 18, 19. 


W. 

Warrant for working peat, 22. 
Water in peat, 16, 21, 31. 

in charcoal, 55. 

Weight of peat, 39, 40, 45. 
Winter, 56, 62, 64. 
Wheelbarrows, 23. 

Wood. 41, 45, 46, 48. 
Wood-ashes, 19. 

Wurtemburg, 19. 

Willow, 19. 


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